Heavy Police Presence Planned for Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade

Well, look at that. More and more of our liberties squashed as we scream for security.




“Those who surrender freedom for security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.” - Benjamin Franklin






As an expected three million spectators turn their eyes skyward on Thursday morning, police sharpshooters on rooftops will be peering down for any signs of trouble at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

In addition to Snoopy and SpongeBob floating overhead, there will be mobile cameras and police helicopters, specially trained police dogs sniffing for traces of explosives and officers patrolling on horseback, said James P. O’Neill, the New York Police Department’s chief of department, its highest-ranking uniformed officer.

Observation posts, staffed by officers from the elite Emergency Service Unit, will be watching for suspicious activity; officers will use radiation detectors to seek out evidence of a dirty bomb; and teams of plainclothes officers will mix unobtrusively with revelers spread along the two and a half miles of the Manhattan parade route between 9 a.m. and noon.

“There will be a lot of police presence,” said Chief O’Neill, outlining elements of the department’s security measures at a briefing this week.

“Things the public will see and, of course, things the public will not see,” he said. “All of this will ensure that New York City has a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving, as we do every year.”




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